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Common LCD TV Faults

Patrick Cameron Updated February 21, 2017

You've just bought a brand new LCD television, hung it on the wall and hooked it up. At first, all you notice is the beautiful picture and sound the thing delivers. But over time, you may notice that your LCD has some issues that you didn't originally expect. Hopefully the things that trouble your LCD aren't distracting enough to make you regret your purchase and chances are, the faults you encounter are more based on general technology limitations rather than a problem with your actual set.

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Pixel Refresh Lag

One of the most common issues people have with LCD televisions is that the picture tends to become liquid at times (motion blur). This is mostly true when you're looking at people on television, particularly when there is a high presence of dark space. All LCD televisions have to refresh the pixels as they change. Some televisions, particularly less expensive models, tend to refresh at a slower speed, thus causing the parts of the screen to take on a liquid type of look. In order to avoid the pixel refresh lag, before you buy an LCD set, check out the response time on the set. You'll want to get the lowest number possible. A good standard is 4 milliseconds for each pixel refresh and there are sets out there that refresh even 2 seconds.

Solarisation

Solarisation, also called polarisation, is another common fault you'll find in standard LCD televisions. When the screen becomes solarised, you'll notice that faces appear blotchy and there is a problem with consistently blended colour, with patches of off hues in various spots on the screen. The good news about solarisation is that the problem isn't permanent but just requires a firmware update on your set. To get your television's picture back to normal, you simply need to call the manufacturer and they can help you by providing a USB flash drive that is plugged in to the television. From there, you just follow the on-screen instructions.

Lip Sync

Sometimes watching an LCD television can be like watching an old Chinese karate movie. The picture and sound don't quite match up. This problem is called lip syncing and it's not uncommon. The lip sync error is caused by the time it takes the television to process an image. It can cause audio to come out slightly ahead of the picture, which is especially troublesome when watching a speech or a show with lots of tight head-shots. And the problem extends past the television. It can also be caused by the very broadcast you're watching. There's not a lot that can be done about the lip sync error but you might want to check in to a digital audio delay device, which can delay the audio signal so that it matches what you see on the screen.

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References

About the Author

Patrick Cameron is a freelance writer with 10 years of diverse experience in consumer goods branding, promotions and retail communications. He works out of his home in Denver, Colo. He received his Bachelor of Arts in mass communication from the University of Minnesota.